Armanitola fire: 5 more victims released from hospital

Five more people, who suffered burn injuries at the chemical warehouse fire in Armanitola of Old Dhaka, were released from Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on Tuesday.

“Including these five, 11 of the 21 Armanitola fire victims admitted in our hospital have been released,” said resident physician of the institute Dr Partha Sankar Pal.

The fire that broke out in the early hours of Friday on the ground floor of a six-storey building named Haji Musa Mansion, left four people, including a woman, dead and 24 others, including three firemen, injured.

Later, another victim died at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the institute on Sunday, taking the death toll to five.

Nine others are still undergoing treatment at the institute. Three of them are in the ICU, three in the post-operative care unit (PCU) and others in high-dependency unit (HDU) or general ward.

The condition of the three people in the ICU is critical. Of them, the newlywed couple Ashikuzzaman Khan and Muna Sarkar are in life support, said the resident physician.

Muna’s mother Sufia Sarkar was recently transferred from the ICU to the general ward after her condition improved.

Ashikuzzaman’s uncle Mizan said: “Ashik’s condition improved and could talk to me for a while but was put on life support again.”

The condition of the three people – Md Faruk, Shakhawat and Junayet -- in the PCU has improved a lot, the resident physician added.

On Friday night, Bangshal police lodged a case in connection with the fire, stated Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shahin Fakir.

The OC said seven to eight people, including the owner of the building Mostak Ahmed, were sued along with 15 to 20 unnamed others.

"They have been charged with causing the deaths through negligence and keeping illegal chemical substances in the building,” the OC added.

On Saturday, a Dhaka court fixed June 10 for the submission of an investigation report in the case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Begum Mahmuda Akhter accepted the statement of the case and fixed the date for submission of report.

Old Dhaka remains a ticking time bomb during fires because of illegal chemical warehouses, unplanned building construction, narrow roads and high population density.

In February 2019, a devastating fire at Wahed Mansion in the Churihatta area of Chawkbazar claimed 71 lives.

In June 2010, a deadly fire in Nimtoli took 124 lives.